[DC09] Unstable Grounds

Dec 09, 2011 05:36

Rating: PG-13
Pairing: ChangKyu
Genre: AU!Drama, Romance, Minor!Angst
Theme: Rockets, Phrase to include: "swim until you drown"
Summary: Restrained by the knowledge he carried, the other held back by the responsibilities placed on him. One decides to live by them, the other chooses to forgo the burden.

-

The waves of smoke were inhaled by the man, the red liquid poured into a small glass as it cooled within the metal room. Kyuhyun raised it to his lips as the alarms blared loudly around him.

"Kyuhyun! Don't!"

Kyuhyun looked back as the guard struggled to break through the fumes that filled the room.

"Why shouldn't I do it?" He asked calmly, his eyes distant as he looked back at the liquid in his hands.

The gunman hurried to pull Kyuhyun away from the chemicals, but the obstacles between them remained in the way.

"Think about what you're doing." The gunman pleaded.

Kyuhyun turned around, trickles of tears fell down his cheeks. "I have... It isn't worth it."

Kyuhyun knew too much, that was always the risk.

"I wish I was like you." He declared solemnly. "I wish I could feel nothing." He then drank the liquid.

"No!"

He needed to forget.

"STOP!"

-

Kyuhyun woke up.

His vision refocused as he stared at the logged ceiling above him, furrowing his eyebrows at the bed he was placed in. He raised his head and assumed the cabin was smaller than he thought.

In front of him he sighted the back of a man who lingered by the window, who slowly turned around and met his gaze.

"You're awake." Changmin acknowledged, walking towards him.

"Was I not meant to be?" Kyuhyun countered, staring blankly as he sat up. Changmin stopped right before the bed, studying his eyes before he asked.

"Do you not remember anything?"

Kyuhyun roamed his own mind, but there was nothing there to relive, to remember. He felt almost like a blank slate.

Yet he knew the basics, to speak, to cook, to walk.

Changmin stood silent as he walked away, returning with a warm cup of tea and placed it in Kyuhyun's hand.

They had remained in this tensed silence, Kyuhyun awkwardly looked through the clear windows at the forest grounds outside. His view blocked by endless large trees, a sight he found quiet beautiful.

"Why are you looking outside?" Kyuhyun asked.

"It'll be the last time the space shuttle hits the sky." Changmin explained. "They keep it postponing the date, they may never set it off."

Kyuhyun thinned his lips. "I guess we shall wait till the last second then." He said rather cheerfully.

Changmin looked back at the oblivious man, who remained cheerful despite his loss of memory. The glow of the evening lights outlined his soft expression.

"Are you truly happier?"

Kyuhyun looked back, arching an eyebrow having missed the question.

Changmin merely shook his head and went back to the kitchen in the other edge of the cabin, leaving Kyuhyun perplexed by what he didn't hear. It seemed important.

-

Changmin stepped inside when he noticed Kyuhyun staring at the small fire intently, studying the logs in his hands.

"I... was a scientist?" Kyuhyun asked slowly.

"Do you remember?"

Kyuhyun tilted his head. "I just feel this habit to study the reactions by this." He said, as if he had once had to study the spurts of fire.

Somehow though, the thought came with internal dread, for a reason he couldn't yet recall.

"What kind of scientist was I?" Kyuhyun asked directly.

Changmin complimented. "An amazing one."

Kyuhyun looked back. "Who did I work for?"

To this, the man remained quiet.

"Who?" Kyuhyun asked again.

"You claimed you wanted to forget everything," Changmin spoke. "In having committed such a selfish act, you should suffer the consequences. Don't think I'll answer your curiosity now."

Changmin retrieved the groceries from within the plastic bags, Kyuhyun watched as the jacket heightened and revealed the holster by the man's waist. Within it, held a loaded revolver.

Yet he felt no fear when confronted by this fact, and instead continued looking after the other who lived with him in this cabin.

Kyuhyun, more than often, simply accepted his role without investigating his past. He felt oddly nonchalant about it, that it only peeked his curiosity every now and then. He felt content.

He stood up to refill his drink later that evening when he noticed Changmin sitting in the small couch between the fire and the bed. Eyes closed, chest rising slightly, sleeping soundly.

Kyuhyun inched closer until he sat beside him, his eyes traced his matured outline.

He hovered his lips above the other's, and gently brushed them against Changmin's.

"Why not?" A voice yelled.

"I can't fall for you." Another said calmly.

"I'm not allowed to have anything," Kyuhyun cried, pleaded. "Let me at least have this."

Instead the man had pulled away, leaving the scientist dropping onto the metal table.

Changmin stirred awake, looking to his side as Kyuhyun sat there beside him, faced towards the fire, expressionless. "What's wrong?"

Kyuhyun feigned ignorance, and offered a strained smile. A habit he felt he had long mastered.

Internally, he was shattering piece by piece, until he felt there was nothing of him left. The feeling was all too familiar.

"I'm fine."

-

"Develop one with the potential to kill within a two-mile radius." A man instructed him.

He didn't want to.

"Why are you taking so long? Hurry and do as you're told!"

He was the only one who could work alone, who could formulate chemicals faster than most, who could process the most difficult puzzles and offer appeasements for them all.

The world he was entrapped in, felt like a wide ocean with no island in sight, trapped forever in its waters. One must swim until you drown, until you're drained of that energy and the only solace you have left is to simply struggle forever. To continue fighting as the men taunted you with freedom, with survival.

That was the horrid past he wanted to forget.

His conscience had long left him as he went by his rounds, met with few people in his life, guarded by the same three men for all those years.

He wasn't sure when he had looked forward to Changmin guarding his station, when he felt his attention waver from the products he was asked to make. To the man who stood idly silent as Kyuhyun went about his work, making small talk every so often.

The guard was reluctant, his words restrained as he listened to obligations without question.

Kyuhyun had often wished Changmin would waver, would listen to his beating heart and react as he had.

It was cruel to be facing this alone, to be watched by the very man who had rejected him.

His heart couldn't take it.

-

He ran through the forest grounds, jumping over every rock, every stump, needing to weed past the obstacles. Not caring where he ran, holding no aim, he simply needed to escape.

He soon crashed to his feet, unable to get up. Too soon another pair had followed closely beside him, reaching to hoist him up.

"Get away from me!" He yelled through clenched teeth. Kyuhyun didn't care how scratched his arms were, how much blood he had shed from the impact.

Changmin pulled him upright. "You'll kill yourself if you keep doing this!"

Kyuhyun felt his former self rising, his words heated from the past.

The drink he had taken wasn't meant to erase his memories. That much he realized.

"I wasn't afraid to kill myself before, what would stop me from doing it now?"

The usually cool, collected man gripped his wrists tightly until he couldn't budge, his eyes had narrowed into slits.

Forced back into the enclosed space of the cabin, his hands were tied to the bed's platform, his body bounded.

"I apologize for the extreme measures, but I can't risk you hurting yourself." Changmin said calmly.

Kyuhyun continued to thrash in his grip, trying to escape but couldn't. Changmin sat in the corner of the room, guarding him with his back turned, an action he loathed.

"I hate you." Kyuhyun murmured repeatedly, growing louder as it escaped his throat.

-

The ebony skies outside soon lightened slowly into a soft blue, Changmin hid his exhaustion well as he stood beside Kyuhyun's bed. The man had long stopped moving and staring blankly at the wall beside him, not uttering a word.

"Will you promise not to hurt yourself?"

Kyuhyun said nothing, the bed dipped as Changmin sat on the bed and carefully untied the rope. Gently soothing the red marks imprinted on his skin.

Kyuhyun felt his throat constrict. He felt guilt from the kind gesture as the man considerately freed him from his bounds. He was then pulled into the gunman's hold, carefully checked for bruises and the likes.

"Why?" Kyuhyun asked as Changmin helped to clean his open wounds.

"Why have you kept me here?" Kyuhyun prompted. "Why haven't you turned me into the company? I should have been reprimanded for what I attempted to do."

Changmin's silence irked him, but the man soon parted his lips.

"You were dying in there." Changmin said simply. "Even if you had lived, survived through it, you'd continue suffering and repeat it again."

Kyuhyun watched as Changmin cleared his throat.

"I couldn't bear to see you do that to yourself again." He admitted.

Kyuhyun lowered his eyes as Changmin helped placed the blankets around Kyuhyun's waist, keeping him warm.

"What happened to the company then?" Kyuhyun then asked, knowing he was the sole man for most of their dirty work. But also to distract himself from the man's gestures.

A gentle hand was placed on his shoulder, Changmin gave a small smile. It was something Kyuhyun had never seen, the men who worked for their company couldn't afford to show emotion, any brief display was trained out of them.

The hand then traced his cheek, Kyuhyun's heart skipped a beat.

"You don't have to worry about them anymore. No one has to." Changmin assured.

"Where would you live if you could be freed?" Kyuhyun had asked the guard in question. Changmin had given no answer as Kyuhyun continued, answering his own question.

"I'd want to live where I could see the mountains, where I can experience nature firsthand." He said with a strained smile. "I think I'd be happier there than anywhere else."

Kyuhyun lowered his eyes as he looked up at the sky through the glass windows, the shuttle had yet to launch. He kept considerate watch on the weather and patterns, but it was difficult to do now. A task he felt he could have easily done back then.

The former scientist felt free from the lack of knowledge had once had. Knowledge he was thankful he'd never gain back.

But the memories, the pain he felt, that would never go away.

"Thank you," Kyuhyun said kindly. Changmin looked beside him as Kyuhyun leaned against the window sill. "You've done so much for me, that I never thanked you properly."

Changmin parted his lips to stop him when Kyuhyun held up a hand. "You were married to the job, you would never consider me." Kyuhyun concluded. "I realized that now."

He cleared his throat, struggling to come to this on his own. His feelings he couldn't so easily escape from, Changmin was still a man he felt for strongly.

But the other had done enough. Kyuhyun could offer only the same courtesy.

"You shouldn't worry, I won't ever consider you a possibility again. I won't force you into a corner." He declared, offering the best smile he could, hoping it wasn't strained.

He had to give up on him, there was no other choice.

A scientist may continue on until they reach an answer they're satisfied with, but Kyuhyun chose to leave that life behind.

He was simply a man now who had to be content with what he had, and not pursue what he couldn't.

He closed his eyes and walked towards the fireplace, unaware of the hand raised, begging, outstretched to reach out to him.

The hand then clenched into a fist, forcibly lowered by the man's side.

-

Kyuhyun raised his eyes, blinking when Changmin pulled his hand towards the doors.

"It's the last shuttle that'll go to the skies." Changmin explained. "It's taking off tonight. We'll have a better view outside."

He offered his hand as they stepped onto the dirt grounds, Kyuhyun glanced at it before taking the courage to grab onto his. He still couldn't shake off his nerves, not as Changmin guided him through the dark forests, well-knowledged of the land they lived in.

They reached the banks nearby where a small clearing laid. Kyuhyun looked up, squinting his eyes to see in which direction it may come from.

Kyuhyun, for once, didn't consider the mechanics of the machine and the science around it. Instead he simply admired the scenery above, taking everything at face value.

He was no longer drowning, but on solid ground.

He offered himself a soft smile, almost proud of that feat. He looked down and noted the array of small lights dancing around him and chuckled as he raised his hands.

Changmin stood quietly by, staring as the other cupped the small light in his hand, the soft light revealed his honest smile. An action he could never have done before.

Before, Changmin had considered the risks, the consequences of every action and pursuit. He could never act on emotion, on the moment as he had wanted to.

Times like now, as Kyuhyun cradled the firefly in his hand and then looked up at the sky, awaiting that shuttle to hit the skies.

Two hands clasped his cheeks and pulled him closer.

The ground shook, soon a large stream of fire burst through the sky, raising higher and higher. Yet the two beneath, standing by the banks of the stream remained lip locked, unable to focus on their surroundings as Kyuhyun steadied himself against Changmin's chest.

Once they pulled away, Kyuhyun had looked up, noticing the stream of gray smoke trailing across the sky.

"We missed it."

"I'm sorry," Changmin said quietly after, unable to focus on the sky above them. His hands still on his neck, his fingers weaved into his hair.

"Don't be." Kyuhyun said sincerely, a smile tracing his lips.

It was the last one, but he didn't regret it. Not as Changmin reached for and held him close to his side.

He may have missed a historical moment in time, but he felt no regret as he shamelessly reached for his lips once more, intending to make every bit of that night as memorable as he could.

He would never forget it.

- ❄ Challenge 8 ❄ | ❄ Challenge 10 ❄ -

A/N: This was meant to be a pure romance story... not sure how this came about. Although it was inspired by this gif/pic/poster.

Check out chang-kyu comm ^^ And apologize for errors .-.

pairing: changkyu, | length: one-shots, c: changmin, type: fanfiction, type: yaoi, challenge♣dec 31-shot, c: kyuhyun

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